astra von berlifitzing

PRELUDE - 1809

Astra von Berlifitzing and Dion Metzengerstein, forbidden lovers, heirs of two feuding families from the mountains of the remote frontiers of the Austrian Empire, met by chance in a moonlit glade, and, against all warnings, fell instantly in love. They were discovered and banished from their houses; Dion, to Vienna where he became a world-renowned composer; Astra to Paris where her fury became her art of dance.

ACT 1 - 1825

The two lovers are fated to meet again. This evening Dion, now Baron Metzengerstein, is hosting an entertainment at his palatial ballroom, featuring his famous waltz-ballet compositions. Astra, now Countess Berlifitzing, arrives unannounced at the enemy palace to dance to her Dion’s music and claim the love taken from her so long ago.

Reunited through their art, and with, passions rekindled, Astra proves herself to be the only dancer able to match Dion’s music in heart and soul. While Dion thrives on challenging his muse and testing her limits, Astra is ecstatic when dancing to the music of the great Dion Metzengerstein. The fury of his Dion’s creation knows no boundaries until finally he drives Astra into a frenzied dance of abandonment. Spinning too close to the blazing hearth, flames catch her dress and though Astra continues her dance, the flames mercilessly engulf her. Overwhelmed by conflicting emotions, Dion sends Astra home, where she vanishes in a fire that destroys Castle Berlifitzing.

ACT II - 2025

Centuries have passed. Palace Metzengerstein is now a pleasure resort hotel.  Its ballroom is a dancehall, a popular nightspot for the eccentric underworld. “Hotel Palace Metzengerstein” is full of intrigue and mystery; no one dares to speculate as to the true identity of the aged pianist “Dion” holding fast to his keyboard.

This evening’s dance contestants’ sensual world-dance styles never turn the head of the mysterious man on the keys until a new and mysterious dancer named Amalia enters like a forgotten curse. In two hundred years she is the first dancer to command the attention of the brooding, saturnine composer. He resolves to test her and plays the waltz that destroyed Astra. Dion plays and Amalia dances, both in utter absorption; but as she dances, a wildfire, erupting out of the accursed ruins of Castle Berlifitzing, suddenly conflagrates the Hotel Palace Metzengerstein. In their last moments, Amalia reveals herself both as Dion’s nemesis and doom, and as his one true love, lost, betrayed, yet faithful to the last. They dance into the inferno, where Astra von Berlifitzing and Dion von Metzengerstein will live, die, dance and burn happily ever after!